Here, all the time, it's just tap and go.

From a coffee,

on the train, even at the gift shop!

Come back to the U.S. and it's the good, old-fashioned chip and sign.

In fact, only three percent of cards in the U.S. are contactless,

compared to 64 percent in the U.K. and 96 percent in South Korea.

In case you haven't seen them before, contactless cards usually include a symbol that looks a little bit like wifi.

They don't require any swiping or signing - just a quick tap.

One reason contactless payments have caught on quickly here in the U.K. versus the U.S. for example,

is the sheer size of the market.

We have a smaller number of large retail banks that serve consumers in the U.K. as compared to

what might be a much more fragmented and much larger market in the U.S.

So it means that it's much easier to coordinate change for the industry in the U.K.

In 2014, London public transportation started accepting contactless payments.

That was a key step toward getting British consumers hooked.

Transport for London stepped into the breach and said to the banks, "Look we're introducing this on transport,

please get the cards into the hands of our consumers."

So we went from very little usage to very rapid growth in a short space of time.

Another difference is over consumer attitudes toward new kinds of payments.

In the U.K. debit cards surpassed cash as the number one type of payment method in 2017.

In the U.S., cash is still king.

Americans use cash for 55 percent of transactions under $10

and cash is especially popular in categories like groceries, fast-food restaurants and pharmacies.

Part of the problem here in the U.S. is that consumers are just getting used to chip cards.

It took many retailers years to implement new chip card readers,

which were branded as more secure than card swiping.

Now some shoppers are worried that contactless cards will give up some of that security.

Are there security concerns with contactless cards that are different than a chip insert or swiping, for example?

I think security is always front of mind for consumers.

But the great thing is not only contactless cards are much much faster,

but they are as secure as chip payments.

There are some signs contactless cards are starting to catch on here in the U.S.

It might be easier for retailers to adapt this time considering many of those chip readers they installed

already came with built-in contactless technology.

The infrastructure's there, and it's just a matter of the cards coming out,

which we're seeing now, too. So the tide is really starting to shift.

JPMorgan's Chase says it is issuing the cards to millions of customers,

and Visa expects more than 100 million contactless cards

will be in the hands of Americans by the end of 2019.

Public transport networks in cities like New York are starting to offer contactless payments,

though some shoppers around the world might skip the physical cards altogether,

thanks to digital wallets like Apple Pay, AliPay, or WeChat Pay.

Contactless payments are generally good news for American shoppers and foreign tourists

frustrated with waiting on machines and signing receipts.

But the U.S. still has a long way to go before everyone can pay with the wave of a hand.

Hey everyone, it's Elizabeth. I've been reading your comments and don't worry, I am still around.

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